Reluctantly Reinstated
by pay-your-hecking-taxes
Summary: As a young child, Mr Krupp looked up to superheroes. The idealistic, latex clad men and women who did what they did because it was the right thing to do. After realizing how far reality is from the comics, he buries his past and abandons his powers to grow up, to live a normal life. This new lease on life is turned upside down when George and Harold discover his secret.


A/N: finally decided to just upload all my Captain Underpants fics from Ao3 anyway.

The dying light of the sun illuminated the city skyline, the earliest of the lights were beginning to turn on across the houses and buildings. The hooded figure of one young Mister Benjamin Krupp sat watching over all of it from somewhere inconspicuous. Sure, he could he fly away if he was spotted, but why risk drawing more attention to himself?

The city knew him by one persona, he didn't need them to know him by another. As he gazed out at his childhood hometown, the usual pride and affection he had felt had been replaced by a dullness born from years of sameness. He wondered if all superheroes felt the same way. Even the ones of ink and paper.

No, it was only those from ink and paper.

Throughout the years of this little adventure of his, of saving people, thwarting crimes, and trying to be a good person he'd never met another person like him. Sure, there were police members and well intentioned samaritans, but there were also cold and selfish people. People who would do anything for their own gain, who saw others as nothing but another opportunity to make an easy buck.

Ben wanted to believe in the best of people, wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Everyone had their own struggles and burdens, all he wanted was to give them a hand in some way. It had been rewarding just knowing he'd been doing a good deed, someone's secret savior. That feeling just wasn't enough anymore. Between having to juggle his own day to day life, run ins with suspicious officials and life threatening situations, he couldn't run on good feelings anymore.

It seemed like a never ending stream of crime. Theft was always happening, cars were being hijacked and the list kept growing. He barely felt like his presence mattered anymore. Not to the civilians, the politicians, not even himself.

When he was a child, he'd always dreamed of doing this, of being a superhero. An almost fairy tale life of charm and action- it was everything his little naive mind could have wanted. He had the powers, he felt the allure of destiny call to him. The thought of being something bigger than yourself was intoxicating. No longer would he have be just Benny, no, he could be like Superman.

Soaring through the sky, unburdened but dutiful was far more appealing than sitting at your desk and listening to your teacher talk about math or science. His schoolboy days had been filled with frivolous daydreams, of an unattainable ideal.

That's all it was though.

Unattainable ideals, struggles where the good guy made it out on top no matter what. They were the good guys, with the universe beating down on them and fate dealing them just the right hands to win at the end of the day. Paper and ink and stories were all they were. They were someone's stories, another person's hope but at the end of the day all false. There were no real life superheroes like him.

Discovering his powers had been a blessing, every ten year old child's dream. Now it just felt like a lonely burden. He'd waited years for news of another person like him. Someone who could fly, could lift and bend things they shouldn't. It had been fun at first, for a long time actually. He suppose he could still say there were still moments where he enjoyed these talents of his. Where flying let him get things off the higher shelves, where he'd allow himself to selfishly use his powers for his own gain and win little bets at bars if he just exerted himself just the slightest bit.

There were countless times where they got in the way more than they helped him. Ben couldn't count the number of times he'd been paranoid about giving himself away with some idiotic little mistake. A second guess, a doubt about the thing he'd just did. Whether it be opening a door, or a jar, or maybe feeling just too happy and floating. Every second he was in public, outside of the security of his own home, Ben was on edge. If he could just keep his emotions in check, keep himself in line, everything would be just fine.

It had to be.

Fading streaks of red and orange painted the sky, a final farewell to the warmth and liveliness of the day. The night brought with it's own version of liveliness as well, a tired yet free feeling came over the city. The lights of cars could be seen traveling, ferrying their occupants across town. The coolness of night wafted through his nose, breaking Ben from his thoughts. He got up to leave

Sure, he'd made some changes, he'd saved some people. Somewhere out there maybe he'd be remembered as the one who changed someone's life. It didn't matter anymore, not to him, not to the majority of those he had once upon a time dedicated himself to saving. The city had operated just fine before he'd come and decided to play the make believe hero. It was time he grew up.

As he jumped down from his perch, he let the air rush past him, controlling his fall. He took care not to let his hood fly away and reveal his face to whoever might be watching in this quiet part of town. He would miss flying, he supposed. It was one of his favorites, the feeling of being free and untethered for a few hours. Going anywhere you so pleased had always brought relief to him. The now retired superhero decided he could give it up, though and just live life normally.

As he walked through the streets he was so familiar with at every angle, there was the comforting thought that he wouldn't be aimless. He knew where to go, what to do. That want to better the world, to better the people of the world was still alive. It had just turned its attention somewhere else. If he couldn't fix the world as it was, he could change the future being made, ever so slightly. If his superhero self couldn't make a difference in the world, then maybe his civilian self could.


End file.
